Ten people died in Northamptonshire due to shortage of donated organs, report reveals

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Ten residents have died in Northamptonshire in the last 12 months because of a shortage of donated organs, according to new figures.

And there are still 148 people in the county currently waiting for a transplant, NHS Blood and Transport has revealed as part of a campaign to get people to sign up during National Transplant Week which starts on Monday.

A spokesman for the NHS said: “The aim of this year’s campaign is to increase awareness that the decision to donate a loved one’s organs falls to the family if you die in circumstances where you can donate.

“If you’ve already talked about it, your family won’t have the burden of having to guess what you would have wanted at an incredibly difficult time and they are more likely to support your decision to donate,” he said.

Sally Johnson, director of Organ Donation and Transplantation for NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “Last year 33 people living in Northamptonshire benefited from a life-saving organ transplant thanks to families making the decision to donate when a loved one died, a decision that we know makes them incredibly proud.

“We know that families are much less likely to allow organ donation to go ahead if they don’t know it’s what their loved one wanted.

“To help more people we need everyone, even if you’re one of the 242,301 people on the NHS Organ Donor Register in Northamptonshire, to tell those closest to you that you want to donate your organs. Please have the conversation and spell it out.”